Brave Blaze make a point but suffer late heartbreak as Sheffield Steel thriller

THE Genting Casino Coventry Blaze took a point from the leagueleading Sheffield Steelers following a heart-breaking 6-5 overtime loss in a pulsating encounter before a large, loud crowd at the Skydome Arena.

The game got off to the worst possible start for the Blaze when former Skydome favourite Marco Vallerand beat Blaze netminder CJ Motte after just 21 seconds.

But the Blaze battled back and the action was end-to-end before defenceman Dillon Eichstadt drew the Blaze level at 6.57 with a shot from the blue line.

And just over a minute later the Blaze were in front when top-scorer Luke Ferrara beat Tomas Duba in the Steelers net with a great shot for his 24th league goal of the season at 8.02.

The second period saw the pace and intensity maintained. The Steelers drew level through Tanner Eberle at 29.20.

Less than two minutes later the Blaze were back in front when Andrew Johnston scored his 17th league goal of the season at 31.09.

The third period saw the Steelers draw level again when Eberle scored his second of the night at 43.29. But Evan Bloodoff put the Blaze back in front at 46.11. Bloodoff then added his second on the powerplay at 47.50. With Johnston in the penalty box for a slashing penalty, the Steelers pulled the score back to 5-4 through Marek Troncinsky at 55.16.

With the game entering the last two minutes the Steelers pulled Duba for the extra skater and Lucas Sandstrom fired past Motte from the blue line at 58.44 to make it 5-5. The game went to overtime and was settled when Nikolai Lemtyugov beat Motte.

Blaze head coach Danny Stewart, inset, said: “It was a tough way to lose a game.”